NASA releases unique view of the Milky Way

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency released a never-before-seen view of the center of the Milky Way galaxy Tuesday in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy.

NASA said the composite image commemorates the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609.

The image was distributed to more than 150 planetariums, museums, nature centers, libraries and schools across the nation.

"Each site will unveil a giant, 6-foot-by-3-foot print of the bustling hub of our galaxy that combines a near-infrared view from the Hubble Space Telescope, an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and an X-ray view from the Chandra X-ray Observatory into one multi-wavelength picture," NASA said.

Officials said experts from the three observatories assembled the final image from large mosaic photo surveys taken by each telescope. NASA scientists said the composite provides "one of the most detailed views ever of our galaxy's mysterious core."

The project is a collaboration of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; the Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena, Calif.; and the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.

The composite image is available at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20091110a.html.